Mayor Bill de Blasio crows that New York City had one of the SAFEST Augusts in nearly 30 years despite bloody Labor Day weekend
New York mayor Bill de Blasio has crowed that the city has experienced one of its safest Augusts on record - and he's not wrong, despite a bloody Labor Day weekend where one person was shot dead and eight others were injured.
De Blasio released last month's citywide crime statistics at a press conference on Tuesday, where he said crime in August 2021 dropped 5.4 per cent compared to the same time last year.
Crime in the city is also at one of its lowest levels since 1995, according to CompStat with 6,141 violent incidents compared to 1,979 in the year to date. Those incidents include, murder, rape, assault, burglary, larceny and grand theft auto.
But despite overall crime rates being down, New York City continues to see a surge in violent crimes in some areas, with murders up a whopping 60 per cent in the Bronx alone this year, compared to 2020. Hate crimes citywide have also soared a shocking 97.8 per cent compared to last year.
De Blasio's announcement came after a violent Labor Day Weekend where nine people were shot. They included a 21-year-old immigrant cab driver who was caught in the crossfire of a shootout in Harlem in the early hours of Sunday morning and died three days later.
Kudlup Singh was struck by a 15-year-old male suspect as he drove his black Toyota Camry past a nearby silver sedan when a gun battle erupted between the car's occupants and the people on the street.
Singh suffered horrific brain damage as a result and the other passengers in Singh's vehicle - a mother and 12-year-old son - were not harmed during the incident.
New York City mayor Bill de Blasio said in a press conference Tuesday that the city is 'turning the corner when it comes to public safety,' citing dipping crime rates and one of the safest Augusts in nearly 30 years
De Blasio called the drop 'striking progress and progress that gives us a lot of hope for the future'
NYPD data shows the change in crime rates from a 28-day period in August 2021 ending on Sunday, September 5, compared to the same time last year
The Uber driver is one of the 1,305 shooting victims so far this year - a 1.7 per cent increase from the 1,283 victims in 2020 - even though the overall number of shootings dropped 6.6 per cent to 57.
However, according to NYPD records shooting incidents have decreased by 30.7 per cent overall. The department made 343 gun arrests this past August - 6.3 per cent less arrests compared to August of last year.
De Blasio called the drop 'striking progress and progress that gives us a lot of hope for the future'.
The NYPD released a statement Tuesday regarding citywide crime statistics, which echoed De Blasio: 'The number of overall index crimes reported in the city through the end of August is the lowest tally for the first eight months of any calendar year since the start of the modern CompStat era nearly three decades ago.'
It added: 'The crime reductions... reflect the NYPD's relentless focus on precision policing to reduce violence across New York City.'
The department also highlighted the progress made in August alone, 'crediting it to more gun arrests, courts reopening, grand juries hearing more cases and a strategy called precision policing that targets suspected gang members'.
A spike in crime rates in the 1990s was attributed to the crack-cocaine epidemic of the mid-80s, according to The Atlantic. The late 90s saw crime rates plummet because of economic growth and more opportunities for higher employment.
About 7.5 per cent of the drop can be attributed to a decrease in alcohol consumption during that time, as reported by The Atlantic. 'There's also early research that suggests more abstract economic factors like inflation and consumer confidence (that) may have played a role.'
NYPD CompStat data reported some of the lowest crime rates in the city since 1995, when 6,141 crimes occurred. In 2021, a total of 1,979 crimes were reported throughout the city
NYPD crime statistics through September 5, showing a slight decrease in overall crimes. Year to date murders are down 2.2 per cent despite string of shootings over Labor Day weekend in the Bronx
In 2021, De Blasio noted: 'We got a lot more to go, let me be clear... One crime is one crime too many for all of us and we have big challenges ahead, particularly in the Bronx.'
He also said that citywide, 'murder is down nearly nine per cent'.
But in the Bronx, in the 28-day period that ended after the bloody weekend on Sunday, September 5, there were a total of 24 murders - compared to 21 over the same period in 2020 - a 60 per cent increase.
Police said a 30-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy were shot in the buttocks and lower back respectively, at 1877 Bathgate Avenue in the Crotona neighborhood at 2.48am Sunday.
EMS transported the teen to St Barnabas Hospital while the other man managed to take himself to Lincoln Hospital.
Then at around 3.30am, police responded to a shooting opposite a gas station located at 2280 Tillotson Avenue in the Eastchester neighborhood of the Bronx.
A stray bullet from a Harlem shootout killed Uber driver Kuldip Singh, 21, who was driving down the street with a mother and her 12-year-old son in the backseat
Police are seeking this man in connection with Singh's fatal shooting. The 15 year-old boy who is believed to have fired the deadly shot was apprehended, and is being treated in hospital
Seven people in the Bronx in New York City, sustained gunshot wounds in separate shootings in the space of a few hours. It is unclear if these shootings were related. Four of those injured were shot outside of a catering hall at 3.35am on Sunday
Cops discovered a 28-year-old man 'unconscious and unresponsive' with a gunshot wound while a second man, 35, also sustained a gunshot wound but was conscious and alert.
Both men were rushed to Jacobi Hospital where the 28-year-old was pronounced dead. The 35-year-old was listed in stable condition.
Elsewhere in the Bronx police said four people were shot and wounded as a group of people left La Roose Catering Hall on White Plains Road around 3.35am.
The group got into an argument with an unknown person, who opened fire on them, shooting a 24-year-old man, a 27-year-old woman, a 36-year-old man and a 47-year-old man all in their legs.
The last shooting was reported around 4.15am Sunday in the Kingsbridge Heights neighborhood where police say a 22-year-old woman was shot by a driver she mistook for her taxi.
The man in the black car attempted to grab the woman's bag and when she resisted, the driver drew a gun and opened fire, hitting her in her left shoulder in front of 197th Street and Reservoir Avenue.
The suspects above allegedly attacked two men with a screwdriver and a glass bottle, hurled a homophobic slur at one of them, and stole cash and an iPhone before fleeing the scene at a store at 1559 Broadway in Bushwick, Brooklyn at 2.10am Saturday
The men attacked the victims with a glass bottle and a screwdriver before stealing an iPhone and cash and running away on foot
The NYPD maintains that 'officers have made consistent progress in curtailing gun violence, anchored by the department’s continuing to build strong long-term cases against those who carry out violence using firearms'.
Overall, crime may be down but felony assaults saw a 5.5 per cent increase and rape spiked by 4.5 per cent. The number of robberies decreased by 1.9 per cent.
The FBI recorded a soaring number of hate crimes across the United States, including in the Big Apple, which they attributed to an increased amount of assaults targeting Asian and Black victims.
Since the beginning of 2021, the NYPD reported 376 hate crimes, compared to 189 last year - a shocking 97.8 per cent increase.
Most recently two men were brutally attacked with a glass bottle and a screwdriver while being called homophobic slurs at a Brooklyn bodega early Saturday morning.
The two male victims, aged 36 and 28, were trying to buy food at a store at 1559 Broadway in Bushwick, Brooklyn at 2.10am, according to the NYPD.
They were approached by two unknown men who engaged them in a verbal dispute and made 'anti-gay statements,' according to police.
The men attacked the victims with a glass bottle and a screwdriver before stealing an iPhone and cash and running away on foot.
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